 It is week 16 and the Falcons are back in Mercedes Benz Stadium as they host the Indianapolis Colts for their last game of the season. Happy or Merry Christmas Eve to you guys. Both these teams looking for a win to stay in playoff contention. The Falcons lose today. Their playoff hopes close to dead. Yeah. Close to dead. Of course. So thank you guys for joining us for the Falcons pregame show presented by Ticketmaster Taylor Vizbor. Derek Rackley. And like we said, playoff hopes, they're not dead. There's a little bit of a chance left, but they have to win today to make those chances better. And we will do our best to try to spread holiday cheer for playoff hopes for the Atlanta Falcons today. And the Indianapolis Colts are trying to hold on. They currently sit at the number seven spot in the AFC. So they've got a lot on the line as well. A lot on the line and we're going to talk about all those playoff contentions and who has to win, who has to lose a little bit later. But I know that you always make fun of me because of my age and everyone at the office always does because I'm so young and whatever. But I had a kid come to the practice facility this week. Trying to come for my job. He was pretty good. He's younger than you. He's much younger. Much younger than me. So go ahead and take a look at the kid reporter. We can do Nintendo 64, GameCube, any of that. All of it. You've got something behind you. I'm messing with you. Miles and I, the kid reporter for the Atlanta Falcons. They are just about to finish practicing here. And we're going to go interview some of the players. Might as well enjoy Snickers ice cream while I'm at it. Who is the best singer on the team? I don't think anybody can sing. Me. Me. Me. I'll take it. You? Can we hear it? No. Oh, okay. What is your secret talent? Ooh, my secret talent? I'm a Pokemon master. What? Like a video game Pokemon Go with Shunga. Pokemon Go, that's more collective. I want a battle. So I'm going to Pokemon cards. I'm there. Pokemon video game. I'm there. What was the best gift you ever received as a child for Christmas? Oh, it was a football. And Xbox 360. One day, we went outside. We lived in Michigan. It was snow coat everywhere. And I had a bunch of little siblings. And we finished opening up everything under the present. And my dad took us outside. And there were two snowmobiles. And that was a lot of fun. What is your favorite Christmas present? It used to be taken one present early. I'll probably put some cookie down and bite it. Okay. He doesn't know yet. But you know, I'm going to put a cookie by him. All right, all right. What is your pre-game meal? Ooh, my pre-game meal is pretty boring. I do an oatmeal with blueberries. Okay. And then I do avocado toast. You know, I like a nice buttered waffle. You know, with some buttered waffle. Yeah, with some syrup, some eggs and some bacon. You know, I like to eat pork bacon, not turkey bacon. I usually do like eggs and potatoes and sausage. Okay. All right. All right. No. It's not good enough. Not good enough. Like, I don't know what would be more impressive for him than like a normal average breakfast. Eggs and potatoes. No, you're going to have to get better than that. I think that's a pretty good pre-game meal to me. I mean, you got protein. You got carbs. I'm not going to be a kid reporter though, showing some personality early on. Not afraid to call out an NFL superstar, right? No. And we love that because sometimes I'm a little afraid. Myself. I'm like, okay, hey, let me ask you this. He was asking everyone what their favorite Christmas tradition was. And in the spirit of Christmas, do you have any of your favorites? Favorite traditions. My kids always, always, always try to the day before Christmas. Now it's a little different when you're working on Christmas, right? But the day before Christmas Eve, they're always working on my wife and I talking about, can we please open one Christmas present? Can we please, like, maybe just the one that we got each other so they cannot wait till Christmas morning. So I would say that's one of the traditions. And then obviously the big meals that my mother-in-law cooks, the big, huge southern, southern meals. Yeah. I feel like from Thanksgiving until like New Year's, it's just big meals all around. And like, if you gain weight, it's fine. Like no one cares. That's what January's for, right? Yeah, right. It's all about New Year's resolutions at that point and like losing the weight that you put on during the holidays. But let's go ahead and get into the game today because there's a lot to talk about, as I always, always say, every single game. But it's true, especially in this game today because there's a new quarterback under center today. Taylor Heineke will be starting for the Falcons and probably will be starting for the last three games of the season, trying to get some wins in this later part of the season to hopefully make a playoff. Who knows? There is a way and I'll let you give your little piece before I tell you guys how they can make the playoffs because it is possible. Yeah, I mean, so we're going to switch again to Taylor Heineke and before we get to all that, I mean, the whole playoff scenario is this. I mean, I mentioned this probably three or four weeks ago, especially when we were talking about our Falcons Audible podcast presented by AT&T is Atlanta is in a situation where they just need to worry about the game at hand. The moment that the players or the coaches and trust me, they're not doing it. But the moment that they start thinking about the scenarios of how they get into the postseason is the same moment that they don't get into the postseason. But this is the current division standings. Obviously we've played the Buccaneers and Saints recently. The last couple losses to Tampa Bay and Carolina was really kind of the dagger. Again, it's not over yet, but you saw the loss for the Saints on Thursday night. You're kind of hoping that your Jacksonville Jaguar fans today that they end up knocking off the Buccaneers. And then there's still a chance, but you've got to continue to win football games. And I say continue to spend a little bit of a struggle for Atlanta. That's right. So the Falcons team might not look down the line at like the next game at hand when they have one game. It's one game at a time for them. I do because I report on this team and I need to know what the playoff contingent looks like. So right now the Falcons have a 7% chance that they can play off. It doesn't sound like a great chance, but it is still a chance, right? We're not eliminated yet. But earlier in the week, the Saints played a Thursday night game. They had to lose to the Rams and they did. Today, Tampa Bay has to lose to the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Falcons have to win against the Colts. Then you look into next week, if all those things happen. You look into next week, the Saints have to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers down in Tampa. And then of course the Falcons have to beat the Chicago Bears. Looking into week 18, Falcons have to beat the Saints down in New Orleans, which is always a hard place to play, especially for this Falcons team. So basically Falcons have to win out, but you need a couple of those helpful hands from the Saints. I hate saying let's cheer on the Saints next week. I know it hurts you guys, but that might be what needs to happen and forget the Falcons to the playoff. Yeah. And I'll tell you this, all that, the scenarios, they kind of hurt my brain thinking about all those different avenues that you talked about. So I'm going to stick with winning the football game today against Indianapolis Colts. And I know we joked earlier about your age, and have you ever seen the movie Dumb and Dumber? Yes. You have? I have. Okay, you sure? Yes. You're not just saying that? Yes, I have. But when you said 7%, the only thing that came into my mind was, so you're saying there's a chance. There's a chance. That's right. There's a chance. But it starts today with Taylor Heinecke under center. And a lot of people were wondering after last week's game, how did he make another quarterback change? And Arthur Smith gave his reasoning why he made the change so late in the season again for Taylor Heinecke to start. Yeah, coach, could you walk through the stage and switch to Taylor Heinecke? Yeah. You know, obviously, when Des came back a few weeks ago, and that's why, you know, the plan was to let him finish out the season. And that's what the plan was. And then you've got to be willing to adapt. And the same thing that we planned. I don't want to keep doing switching week to week and have to have, you know, that's not what we want to do. But we feel right now where we're at, that Taylor gives us our best chance and you have to adapt. And so that's where we're going to go. So that's the plan with Taylor going forward. All right. So Arthur Smith did say that the plan originally was for Desmond to finish out the season. But looking at where the season has landed at this point in time when we had 16. It's time for a new quarterback and another quarterback change under center. Taylor Heinecke has appeared in three games. He came in against Tennessee at the half because Desmond had to come out for concussion protocol. He then started against the Minnesota Vikings and then came out against the Arizona Cardinals in the third quarter because of a hamstring. So when you look at Taylor Heinecke, what do you see as a quarterback? I know that we know his ceiling. We know what he can do. But when you saw him work against this team, what did you see? Well, I think you see a guy that comes in confident. He's confident in his ability to make all the throws to read the defenses. He's done that. I mean, he displayed that when he was thrusted into the starting role with Washington over the last couple of years. And that's the reason why Atlanta brought him over and they signed him to the contract that they did because they felt confident that he could help them get wins if they needed him to. So his job is to do this, is to come in and yes, you got to be smart with the football. You want your quarterback to play completely conservative because all he's thinking about is making a turnover because you want him to take chances when they're there. But you've got to trust your eyes as a quarterback. What do you see? And you've got to trust your timing. When you see it, you got to get rid of the football. The moment you hesitate, you can't go back and throw the ball in the middle of the field like we saw last week with Desmond Ritter against Carolina. If you don't see it, you get 55% completion rate. If I'm Arthur Smith, I'm going to say we need him to complete 65% plus passes in this game. What does that mean? We're staying on the field in offense. We're picking up first downs and we're playing efficient football with all the playmakers around him. So he's at 55% right now. You've got to be better than that. Three touchdowns, one interception. The turnovers has been the problem. So he's got to go out and make sure they protect the football. It's not all on his shoulders. A lot of that's offensive line. He's got to be good at football, but stay on schedule and give this team a chance to put points on the board. Taylor Heineke will get his third official start under center today with the Atlanta Falcons. Let's switch to the Colts a little bit and talk about their quarterback situation because earlier in the season they of course they dropped Anthony Richardson out of Florida. He actually went out on IR. We'll miss the remainder of the season because of a shoulder injury. Gardner Menchew has come in and he's done a lot of work for this this Indianapolis Colts team. Yeah. So Gardner Menchew was in Philadelphia the last couple of years. He's got the familiarity with Shane Steichen, the head coach for the Colts and so they knew he knew the offense and and Steichen felt comfortable with him as a mentor. Number one or number two, a guy that could come in and help them win football games. Exactly what we were just talking about with Taylor Heineke. The difference has been as Gardner Menchew has been able to help them get some wins. They've won five out of the last six games and they've been averaging 25 points per game in those five wins during that streak, if you will. So 63.3. Remember I was just talking to Taylor Heineke at 55. Gardner Menchew is a little bit higher than that. He's he's at 63 percent, 14 touchdowns, eight interceptions. The big thing that I noticed when I was preparing for this game is the last four games he's been throwing over 37 passes a game. So they are not been shy to throw the football down the field and that's kind of what he is as a quarterback even when he was in college. He's a gunslinger. He's going to take chances. We mentioned the eight interceptions. He's going to give you an opportunity to take the football away. They're going to press the ball down the field so the defense has got to expect it. They've got to communicate and they've got to be ready to make plays on that. Yeah. I don't know if you remember this, but when he was in college he was under Mike Leach who has kind of revolutionized that air raid offense a little bit. So he's very comfortable working with an air raid style offense. But here's the thing that hurts Menchew today. Michael Pittman, the wide receiver. Every quarterback has a wide receiver one. They have a guy they like to throw to who is money every time you get in the ball. He will be out today. He was on concussion protocol earlier last week was elevated off of that concussion protocol. Took the flight down to Atlanta. When he got down here he said I feel a little dizzy. They put him back on concussion protocol. He will not be playing today. Yeah. And that's that's a huge loss for this Colts offense. You see the numbers that he had 99 catches this year over a thousand yards only four touchdowns. But he has been the guy. And then when you go outside of him it drops down to Josh Downs who's got 57 catches, which is not bad. But you look at the majority of the offense went through Michael Pittman down the field. So now you're looking at a guy like Josh Downs or maybe an Alec Pierce who oddly enough went to Cincinnati and played with Desmond Ritter. Those are the guys that are going to have to step up in the passing game. So like I talked about this do they have the same game game plan to push the ball down the field knowing that they don't have one of their best receivers in the game playing today. But they do get Jonathan Taylor back if he's been out for three weeks after he had thumb surgery. So they do get a playmaker back in the back field and somebody that can run the football he can catch it out of the back field. So they get some reinforcements but they also lose their best receiver in Pittman not going to be playing in the game today. So Pittman is obviously a huge miss but you did just glazed over. I don't know how you do that Jonathan Taylor is back. That's a huge, huge win for this Indianapolis Colts team that he was out for week 12 with a thumb injury. Had to have surgery on it. And he said basically I like read an article about his him taking that thumb surgery on. He said I couldn't even hold the ball. I couldn't even put pressure on the ball and I'm holding it. I had to get it done and thankfully for the Colts for the Colts sake he is back today. He has four hundred and fifteen rushing yards so far this season on a hundred carries. What kind of guy is Jonathan Taylor going to be able to do for this often. When he's healthy and when he's full speed he's one of the probably I'd say top five running backs in the national football league. So there was a lot of story around Jonathan Taylor this year. He was put on the pup list early. He missed the first four games of the season and there was obviously a contract situation with him as well. Well then he came back out and he kind of started to get his feet underneath himself and against the Buccaneers had his best game. Just shy of a hundred yards and a couple of rushing touchdowns in that game and the Colts wanted. Well then he ended up getting the thumb injury and he like you said he basically they taped it up just to get him through that game but he didn't have the ability to go out and do what he needs to do especially when you talk about ball security as a running back if you don't have all of your fingers and hands functioning to be able to tuck the football away that's a problem so he had to get himself right. So yes I don't know what his status is as far as how healthy he is if he's close to a hundred percent because he just hasn't played a full season of football like we've seen from him in years past. But to answer your question when he is operating on all cylinders he's one of the best in the league and that's why he gets paid well. That's why he's with this organization and they're going to try to find ways to work the offense through him today. Yeah and you want to make sure that he like his thumb is at least I don't know 85% so that you continue to have that ball security which is something that their defense has done an incredible job of making other offenses miss out on this Colts defense has had a turnover and every single game this season it's the longest active streak in the NFL so far they are turnover machines over there and when you look at this Falcons offense they've struggled in the turnover margin all year long since week one. When you look at this Colts team how do you shut that down how do you maybe snap that record that streak. Yeah when you look at it it doesn't look like a great match up for Atlanta because they've had turnover issues and this is a defense that are facing that has found their way to get the hands on the football. As you mentioned 24 takeaways this year 15 interceptions nine fumbles the 24 takeaways by the way is tied for the second most in the national football league. Safety Julian Blackman he's got four interceptions and two fumble recoveries then you got Kenny Moore he's got three picks took two of those back for touchdowns against the Carolina Panthers they've got eight players on this defense that have at least one interception this year so they're kind of spreading the wealth if you will as far as takeaways go. Sometimes you see it like let's take for Atlanta for instance Jesse Bates has been kind of the guy that's been the culprit of all the takeaways for Atlanta that's not the case for Indianapolis it's been a number of guys have gotten into the party so whether it's pass rush is creating some havoc in some tip passes or the quarterback having to throw the ball off their back foot but the defense is there it's one thing to say that some of these quarterbacks are throwing it right to these guys but I've seen many occasions where defensive backs the balls just go right through their hands or bounces right off their chest you got to give them credit they're making plays so again that's why ball security for Atlanta is going to be so huge in this game. Yeah like you said Kenny Moore three interceptions so far this year two happened in the same game against Carolina in Carolina and they were both pick sixes just incredible by that off that defense excuse me but when you look at all the takeaways I went back earlier in the week and looked at all the takeaways that they had and then what their offense was able to do after those turnovers they're generating points whether it's a field goal or a touchdown they are generating points how important is it to keep number one obviously get those takeaways shut those down a little bit but for this defense today this Falcons defense to be able to bend and not break and not allow them to score points with these turnovers. Yeah I mean they've done at Diana's defense has been really the story of the year in is somewhat of a disappointing year of because Atlanta's defense you look at them statistically and they're performing in the top five top 10 in a lot of the major categories especially when you talk about total defense scoring defense they've been doing their job over there they've been getting the takeaways yes you'd like to see more pass rush you'd like to see more sacks but this defense has been doing a great job of keeping people out of the end zone for the most part even last week in Carolina so yes continue to bend not break even if Gardner Minshew does hit a couple of shots down field or we have a missed tackle there ends up being an explosive play we've seen time and time again this defense find a way to get the stop on second down get the stop on third down force the field goal unit on the field instead of allowing the touchdown but again all these things work hand in hand Taylor if the offense doesn't give away the football it doesn't put the defense back out on the field without having proper rest and you don't put them in situations where they have to bail you out so again a lot of this is complimentary football that you always hear coaches talk about yes so definitely helps this Falcons defense that Michael Pittman will be out today Jonathan Taylor will be back obviously that kind of hurts the defense a little bit because of that run defense that the Falcons have been struggling with since Grady Jarrett has been out with Anyamada as well to get to this cool inactive list obviously Michael Pittman will be out for this game today big big miss for them let's go ahead and take a look at this list Zach Moss also he kind of stepped in while Jonathan Taylor was out as that that number one running back if you will so he's going to be out today how big of a miss is that yeah I mean because he was kind of the backup slash the starter once Jonathan Taylor was out so they're going to be without him he's got a shoulder issue and in those guys place it's been Trace Sermon and Tyler Goodson so you'd like to think about this chart a little bit to be able to fill for Jonathan Taylor if they need to so yes another big loss for Indianapolis on the offensive side of the ball not having the services of Moss and what he can do running and catching on the ball out of the backfield and then you look at the offensive line something that Atlanta has struggled with over the last couple of weeks Brayden Smith the tackle he's a starter he's going to be inactive in this game and Jack Anderson not necessarily a starter but he's that all that ever so important swing offensive lineman that can play guard Ryan Kelly the center ends up going down they don't have a guy behind them that they feel ultra confident with Anderson being out but those four players are the biggest misses for Indianapolis in this game that's right so let's go ahead and get to the Falcons inactive list this is the best inactive list that we've seen in a while because you were talking about their center our center Drew Domin will be back he did not get a game designation on Friday which is good news Lindstrom will be back Matthews will be back as well to pre a huge massive wins for this falcon and listen I hate to see any of these guys that are on the inactive list especially Caleb McGarry a starter but the fact that he's the only one as far as a true starter that's on the inactive list is a huge bonus for Atlanta getting the reinforcements back especially on the offensive line we know that this team really offensively runs through their run game and you do that when you have your starters that are available and yes they still try to commit to the run game in the last couple weeks like you saw even last week in Carolina they were not able to run the football as effectively as they like because they didn't have the starters back in the lineup David Anyamata I think is going to be a huge boost for this team he's been one of those unsung heroes that not everything shows up in the stat sheet for him but the amount of havoc that he creates the amount of double teams that he demands when he's in the game and how that frees everybody else up in the middle of that defense is huge so the fact that they're getting some players back they've got to use that as motivation as confidence building to help them get a victory in this game and you talk about being hungry you look at David Anyamata and Bud Dupri some guys who have missed some games this year and when your season is on the line I bet you're hungrier than ever especially these who they want to come out and win and win big losses of him doing some really good things for Atlanta this year he's got to find a way to get free Anyamata's got to continue to find a way to create some havoc Kaden Ellis has got to be active in that linebacker level Jesse Bates continue to do what he's been doing the entire season defense has been one of the best stories now when you get a couple of guys back can they continue to be dominant and shut this Colts offense down exactly so let's go ahead and get to the keys to the game today presented by Wells Fargo they're going to be first in the AFC excuse me their division their division AFC South my gosh I just lost me they're going to be number one in their division and they're hoping for the Jacksonville Jaguars to lose today as well so we're both rooting or no are we no they're rooting for Tampa we're rooting for Jacksonville that was just lost on me but let's go ahead and get to the keys to the game what is your first key today it's going to be avoid the critical mistakes and I think it's been a critical turnovers especially when Atlanta gets into the red zone but I'm not going to limit it at just turnovers when you get into the red zone you've got to make sure you don't have those penalties the holding penalty that potentially takes you from scoring a touchdown and now into field goal range or you're in field goal range and now it takes you out of field goal range and you've got to punt the football those are critical errors when at times this year it's been a struggle to score points you can't eliminate maybe you've got a great stop going on defense and all of a sudden you commit a penalty and you give them a free first down those are all the critical errors that you cannot afford to have in this game if you want to keep playoff hopes alive if you want to get back on the winning ways you've got to find a way to avoid those mistakes and I think that what will help not making these critical mistakes today is having that veteran line back in front in front of your quarterback today keeping that game slowing it down like I said last week and you saw them struggle a little bit they kind of played a lot of snaps hadn't seen a start yet in the NFL so that's a lot of nerves a lot of you know things in your mind and if you can slow it down and these guys have been able to show that they can slow the field down they can slow the game down they don't get all of those flags tacked on them and especially in the red zone absolutely you know we go back last week I mean they have two really good defensive line this year alright so let's go to key number two today defend the pass walk me through this one yeah we talked a little bit about this I mean Indianapolis has not been afraid to throw the football especially over the last four games we talked about 37 and a half pass attempts they've been averaging over the last four games so what does that tell me Shane Steichen is not afraid to put the ball in the air with his backup quarterback and Gardner Minshew it feels very confident in what he's doing so if you're the defensive whether that's the short intermediate routes where you have communication going with crossing routes across the field passing all things from linebackers to the safety or it's the shots that they take down field our corners safety's being on the right page and then finding a way to either knock the football away or let's deal a possession so defending the pass I think it's going to be huge even though they get Jonathan Taylor back they're still going to take their shots down field likely going to be more of a Josh Downs or a Moe Alley Cox in the tight end on the football I'm not even going to say anything on top of that because he just eloquently explained the whole thing let's get the key number through today what is the third and final key got to find a way to get touches for the playmakers on offense and to me in my opinion that goes with Drake London Kyle Pitts Bijan Robinson Tyler Algier I think if those are the four guys that they receive a lion's share the touches in this game you're in pretty good shape offensively because those guys are going to do at home versus on the road he is a comfortable receiver when he's playing inside of Mercedes-Benz Stadium so let's find a way to get him the football use that size advantage he had a beautiful catch the last time they played against the Buccaneers here at Mercedes-Benz Stadium going up over the top of the defense Kyle Pitts can do the same we know Bijan Robinson what he's able to do running the football making people miss sticking one foot in the ground making a defender with on a tackle on the offense picking up those first downs breaking tackles those are all the things that get your offense excited they pick up first downs and it's a way to punch the ball in the end zone those are the four guys no disrespect anybody else on the offense but those four guys need to see a lion's share of the touches on offense yeah like you said last home game against the Buccaneers Drake Linden had the best game of his NFL career I know it's only been two seasons but that's still a huge mark for him 10 receptions on 11 attempts 172 yards big game it's insane last week in the pregame show but I spoke to him after that game and I said that was probably one of the craziest catches I've ever seen he laughed at me because he was like you don't think I could catch that ball like come on or he was thinking Taylor I've had so many other catches that I think are a whole lot more spectacular than that one I thought it was a cool catch maybe we'll see a couple of not just really great catches but easy simple catches down the field and I think Drake Linden needs to touch the ball early Calpits needs to touch the ball early get those guys some confidence that way they're they're almost like going to the sideline the calling and the play like coach bring give me the ball get me back involved in the game plan I think a lot of times what happens is Drake doesn't end up touching the ball until late in the second quarter maybe even the second half he starts to get a little frustrated he sees that the offense isn't moving he wants to do something to help this team move the ball down to Bijan out in space where he can make people miss make that electric play and maybe we can see him punch the ball back into the end zone as well exactly so we've got a big matchup coming your way today lots of the line for both of these teams for their division standings obviously if the Colts win today they'll be in first place of the AFC South if the Falcons win today they survive and live to see another day in the National Football League if they lose today they will most likely be eliminated from playoff contention but it's Christmas Eve it's the National Football League it's football it's fun it's a game at the end of the day and it's a good it's a fun game so thank you so much for joining us for this Christmas Eve edition of the Falcons Pre-Game Show presented by Ticketmaster we're going to be in the studio for the next two weeks because we're ending the NFL regular season on the road next week in Chicago and the week after that down in New Orleans so we're going to be breaking down all those things for you in the next two weeks we'll see you then